How viable is it to play with a team of two?

[Vejita]

My GF is wanting me to research some other MMOs for us to play. She is new to MMOs and I am not(Although they aren't exactly my cup of tea nowadays). How viable is this game to be played and enjoyed with a team of two? Or further, just how is this game nowadays? I know it had a really shaky launch but seems to have picked itself back up onto its feet nowadays.

[ZoSo]

I play mostly with a friend aswell, and there are no problems at all for enjoying the content, even both being a DPS. You'll be able to do all the content in the game but maybe some Extreme trials or Savage with your girl, which is the "tryhard" content.

As far as the quality of the game goes, you could say it's the most competent Classi-MMO currently out there. The production values and attention to detail is insane to say the least. Hard to find these days an MMO with a decent story, and incredible soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqJRnD5HuZw), fantastic optimization and customization, a lot of content and gameplay variety in general.

You can do raids, bosses, dungeons, fates, levequests, play cards, breed and race chocobos, gather and craft (they have skills and rotations aswells), housing and plenty of other stuff while having all your classes (jobs) and professions (crafters) in one character, instead of having to create a new one each time.

The game is pretty cheap everywhere and it comes with a free month, i suggest to give it a try.

[Shadezzz]

You are referring to the old ffxiv shaky start. This game is actually quite nice. Community is great as people are eager to help each other out. There still some "elitists" out there but you can ignore them. I don't find them common enough to be a problem.

If you want to play as a team of 2, my suggestion is that one of you is tank and the other is healer. That is a common suggestion for couples playing together.

Like any mmo game, the more people you can get. The better the experience. So find a nice Guild (Called Free Company) and make friends.

[zztoluca]

I mean you can solo it for the most part, except where the game forces you to do group content.
The game is more viable in groups but not required.
As pointed out above, at least one of you going healer or tank will help alot. Dungeon queues for 2 dps is abysmal and may ruin the experience for you both.
Most important thing is to have fun, maybe you find crafting and gathering better than pve, its all what you end up enjoying more.

[Vejita]

Originally posted by zztoluca:

I mean you can solo it for the most part, except where the game forces you to do group content.
The game is more viable in groups but not required.
As pointed out above, at least one of you going healer or tank will help alot. Dungeon queues for 2 dps is abysmal and may ruin the experience for you both.
Most important thing is to have fun, maybe you find crafting and gathering better than pve, its all what you end up enjoying more.

She adores gathering/crafting. If there is stuff like that along with minigames and other non-combat content. She eats that ♥♥♥♥ up. So that is good to know it is an option.

[Moridin]

There are times in the story and class quests that it forces you to play solo to complete a mission. other then that yeah you can do it as a group easily enough.

theres also a few mini-games in the Gold Saucer, including a pretty complex card game called Triple Triad.

[zztoluca]

Oh she will probably love glamour and housing. Its sucks those are gated behind progression, time and gil(in game currency).
Glamouring is locked behind reaching level 50 and housing is locked behind lots of ingame money(5-50 million minimum) if you can even find a housing plot.
Depends on what server you play on.
Thankfully they added appartments so you can still do some just not all of it.

FYI Greenman Gaming has the game 50% off, which is the retail version of the game and is NOT compatible with the steam version.

[Veezora]

Like others have said, most quests in the main world can easily be completed with a party of two, or solo, this is not a game that really requires players to group up solely for quest progression.
There are times, however, where you must complete an instanced dungeon or trial with other players in order to progress the story. A group can be easily found through the automatic matchmaking system, and will generally consist of four players total (1 tank/1 healer/2 DPS), though there are some trials that require 8 later on. You can join as a party of two and be automatically matched with the remaining players you need.
(Also, like others have said, there can be a significant wait for instanced content while leveling a DPS due to sheer demand for tanks and healers, having one of those classes can significantly speed up your wait, but as someone who solo-leveled a DPS, play what you most enjoy).

There is a lot, a lot of content to enjoy, including a number of non-combat content. There's crafting and gathering, a good way to earn gil and create vanity glamour items, and, since you can play as every class on one character, mostly self-sufficient.

Outside of minion (vanity pets) and mount collecting, there is also the collectable trading card game Triple Triad availible through the Gold Saucer, cards for which can be earned through purchase, beating NPCs at the game, or as drops from some content. In addition, the Gold Saucer hosts Chocobo Racing and Lords of Veminion (a RTS styled game where the units you control are the minions you've collected throughout your FFXIV career).

For end game content that is more casually oriented, there are a number of Beast Tribes to be found and befriended through daily quests of their own (both combat and crafting), which reward their own unique mounts and minions.

If you're interested in giving the game a try, certainly download the free, 20-day trial availible here on steam.

EDIT: Oh, as for the current state of the game, FFXIV was essentially scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up with a new team for 2.0 after it's disasterous 1.0 release, and has been made all the better for it. We are now in patch 3.4 about a year after the release of it's first expansion, Heavensward, with new numbered content patches every 2-3 months on average, and it's newest expansion just revealed to be in the works. Player density varies across several worlds on each server, so if you'd like to be sure you end up on a high or medium-density world, you may want to do a little searching before creating your character.

[Vejita]

Is the game worth playing with the expansion or is it okay to just play the base game? Do you lose out on much?

[zztoluca]

You dont need the expansion at least not right away, but you do lose out on some content.
You can purchase it once you hit level 50 or about to, to continue gaining EXP.

Some exclusive content is tied to it, such as:

Leveling past level 50 with a raised level cap to 60
A new race - the "Au Ra"
3 new jobs - Machinest (Ranged DPS), Astrologian (Healer), Dark Knight (Tank)
Palace of the Dead floors 41-200(RNG generated dungeon)
Aquapolis(RNG loot dungeon found via maps.)
Flying zones
More dungeons, raids, crafts, gathering, etc...

[Veezora]

Originally posted by Vejita:

Is the game worth playing with the expansion or is it okay to just play the base game? Do you lose out on much?

You can play without the expansion, however currently you will not be able to play story and other end-game content past level 50 without it, and you will be capped at level 50, rather than level 60. You will also need Heavensward if you plan on playing as a Dark Knight, Machinist or Astrologian.
That said, there is a great deal of content accessable just through the base game, and level 50 content is kept moderately active through weekly quests available to players, so you won't be stuck looking for a group to play with. Most new non-dungeon content released through new patches is still available if you only own the base game.

If you think you'd be interested in trying the game, I would recommend starting with the free trial for both you and your GF. If you both take an interest, you can purchase the game, which comes with an additional free 30 days before the subscription. After that, you can play at your own pace, and if you decide you like the game enough to commit, you can purchase the expansions later on.

[Vejita]

Originally posted by Veezora:

Originally posted by Vejita:

Is the game worth playing with the expansion or is it okay to just play the base game? Do you lose out on much?

You can play without the expansion, however currently you will not be able to play story and other end-game content past level 50 without it, and you will be capped at level 50, rather than level 60. You will also need Heavensward if you plan on playing as a Dark Knight, Machinist or Astrologian.
That said, there is a great deal of content accessable just through the base game, and level 50 content is kept moderately active through weekly quests available to players, so you won't be stuck looking for a group to play with. Most new non-dungeon content released through new patches is still available if you only own the base game.

If you think you'd be interested in trying the game, I would recommend starting with the free trial for both you and your GF. If you both take an interest, you can purchase the game, which comes with an additional free 30 days before the subscription. After that, you can play at your own pace, and if you decide you like the game enough to commit, you can purchase the expansions later on.

I had looked into the free trial once before but I recall it being somewhat restrictive of your ability to group and play with who you chose? Perhaps I read it wrong, it was ages ago.

[zztoluca]

Trial accounts are restricted to limit/control RMT Bots. All of those restrictions are lifted upon purchasing the game.
Gil caps, level caps, party creation, pm messaging, selling on market board, trading, etc...
Some content as outlined in previous post requires the Expansion in order to access regardless of owning the base game.

[Taran Tatsuuchi]

Originally posted by Vejita:

Originally posted by zztoluca:

I mean you can solo it for the most part, except where the game forces you to do group content.
The game is more viable in groups but not required.
As pointed out above, at least one of you going healer or tank will help alot. Dungeon queues for 2 dps is abysmal and may ruin the experience for you both.
Most important thing is to have fun, maybe you find crafting and gathering better than pve, its all what you end up enjoying more.

She adores gathering/crafting. If there is stuff like that along with minigames and other non-combat content. She eats that ♥♥♥♥ up. So that is good to know it is an option.

Gathering and Crafting are their own classes in FFXIV, each with their own story quests every few levels.

Originally posted by Vejita:

Is the game worth playing with the expansion or is it okay to just play the base game? Do you lose out on much?

Most of what you lose out on isn't until level 50+.
So, unless you really want to play as an Au Ra at the beginning, there's not a pressing need to purchase it until you get near level 50.

[Azzy]

Originally posted by Vejita:

Originally posted by zztoluca:

I mean you can solo it for the most part, except where the game forces you to do group content.
The game is more viable in groups but not required.
As pointed out above, at least one of you going healer or tank will help alot. Dungeon queues for 2 dps is abysmal and may ruin the experience for you both.
Most important thing is to have fun, maybe you find crafting and gathering better than pve, its all what you end up enjoying more.

She adores gathering/crafting. If there is stuff like that along with minigames and other non-combat content. She eats that ♥♥♥♥ up. So that is good to know it is an option.

Just on that basis alone I would say this games worth the shell out. There really isnt a game i know of with a crafting system as unique and well tied together as FF14.

There are 3 gathering classes in the game (referred to as Disciples of the Land)

Botanist (Lumberjack)
Miner
Fisher

There are 8 crafting Classes in game (referred to as Disciples of the Hand)

Carpenter
Blacksmith
Armorer
Goldsmith
Leatherworker
Weaver
Alchemist
Culinarian

Each of these are not so much professions as in other mmos but full on classes in thier own right and there is alot more to it than just getting the materials together and pressing *MAKE*, as someone else already stated the crafting process has its own abilities and rotations for optimizing the items being harvested/made. (though not so much at the lower levels.)

They also somewhat tie together with each other as you level up the classes but not to the point that its restrictive or annoying and you can easily sink hours into leveling them and not even notice sometimes (no joke, its nuts how addicting i find it)

Like seriously.... Kudos to Square on this one.

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Content and Leveling wise in terms of Combat Classes.... let me see.

If you do go down the Tank/Healer route my advise would be to have the tank class go Marauder/Warrior (Marauder till 30/Warrior after). Gladiators/Paladins are beasts late game but leveling them is almost literally a 1.2.3 rotation apart from mitigation cooldowns. They are very easy to play but not very fun.

Though when you start leveling you will find that you level so quick to begin with that you can choose to try another class out and not fall behind the main story quests in terms of lvl requirment. If you like something else then go for it.

OH! one thing to definetly bear in mind is that your starting area is determined by which combat class you pick. Its determined by which city your class hall is located in...

U'dah classes are:

Pugilist
Thermatuergists
Gladiators

Limsa Lominsas are:

Marauder
Rogue
Arcanist

Gridanias are:

Archer
Lancer
Conjurer

Whichever eare you start in you wont be able to leave until you reach the main quest storyline to visit the other areas at level 15....So basically if you plan on leveling together, make sure you pick the corresponding classes to start with (once you reach level 15 it doesnt really make a flying monkeys difference).

Those level 1-15 storyline quests are the only part of the game that are different. Without spoilers, each reqgion is assigned a.....never mind. basically to help you decide.

Gridania = tree hippy elves
Thanalan = Desert Merchants
Limsa Lominsa = Pirates

Pretty much sums up each area as succintly as i can put them. But all beautiful in their own rights and its really down to personal preference (pick pirate! everyone loves pirate!)

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As for the questing and Leveling itself...

I struggle to put it into words but the game is massively story driven. literally every class, every part of every zone is tied to a story in some way or another and its almost a shame that there are places in the game whcih are absolutely beautiful but are used maybe once or twice as quest areas for the main story then never really touched on again.

The side quests im afraid to say are (Alteast pre heavensward) mainly if not always a very generic version of *go kill this* *go pick up these* *use these on this* ect. and I have lost count of the amount of filler main story quests which basically go something like this:

"HEY! buddy old pal of mine. your that super duper adventure guy i keep healring about right?
Well long story short I'm hungry and a cactuer stole my bicycle... so be a good sport and go halfway around the world map and grab me a bag of doritos and some of those little brad sticks you dip in cheese"

exaggeration i know... but theres alot of them that they almost sem to run out of reasons to do it, theres not really much innovation there at all. BUT! .... its... its just done so well, you really dont end up minding it because of the ingame crystal transport system. It doesnt feel tedious, its ...wierd.

When the Story wants to be its awesome, like straight out of compton.. It sucks you in and gets you really emotionally invested in the characters and whats going on in the In-game world. It does however lose its way every now and then but once it gets back into it, its a beast.

The only massive niggle for me in this game story wise is the poor voice acting and quality of the early game cutscenes, they just feel so bland and emotionless. You get used to them but it doesnt excuse what (in my opinion) is very sloppy work. Despite that you do still feel a good love for the characters and whats going on in the story so its not a dealbreaker.

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Community wise.

There are always going to be arsebadgers.

however FF14 is by and large in my experience a very open and helpful commnity, infact I would go as far as to say that the comunity, both inside and outside the game are the nicest and most helpful of any MMo ive played. Apart from the generic being nice and helpful stuff,
alot of them are quirky, passionate about the game and they just want to have a laugh and fun. Quite refreshing tbh as having fun seems to be lost on alot of people playing games nowadays.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=800964779
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=800649302

Fits my point perfectly

Bluergh... Im well aware this has turned into a wall of text and although it feels like ive barely scratchd the surface im just going to stop here.

I apologise prefusely for wall of writing.

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EDIT:

If you do have anymore questions I'm happy to try and answer... as im sure are many others.

[Vejita]

Very much thanks for the informative and well thought out posts. They have been very helpful. I appreciate it. We will almost certainly be giving it a try once our ESO+ membership expires in December. All I know is that I saw Lancer. If I can eventually jump on people with a spear, that is all I care about. Also good to know about the different starting areas, I had a feeling that was the case. We'll have to coordinate around that.